Deutsche Bank chief executive Christian Sewing said on Tuesday that markets were too optimistic in their assessment of a recovery from the coronavirus crisis. It's a bearish statement from one of Europe's top bankers as key stock indexes have continue their climb from their lows in March. Sewing, speaking to investors attending an online conference, said that the real economic consequences of the crisis are still uncertain despite an ongoing market recovery.

A banking lobby group called on Tuesday for the European Union to further soften a capital measure to ensure banks do not run out of headroom to help companies hit by the coronavirus crisis. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) said the European Central Bank (ECB) has estimated that such measures will free up 120 billion euros ($131 billion) to support 1.8 trillion euros of additional lending. "The question is are these changes going to be sufficient to furnish banks with enough capacity to provide the support to their customers that is going to be needed in the coming downturn, let alone the recovery?" Michael Lever, head of prudential regulation at AFME, said in a blog post.

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE's largest lender, is likely to come under pressure to redeem $750 million in perpetual bonds in June, even though not calling them would be cheaper for the lender, five banking sources said. Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds, the riskiest debt instruments banks can issue, are designed to be perpetual in nature, but lenders can call them after a specified period. Banks have almost always exercised these "calls" at the first opportunity, but Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender, decided not to in March as market conditions worsened.

Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> over the weekend completed a milestone in the merger of its private and business clients subsidiary in Germany with the mother ship, the lender's deputy chief executive said on Monday. The step is a sign of business-as-usual and progress in the bank's restructuring at a time that the coronavirus outbreak is wreaking havoc on the global economy, disrupting operations and forcing large swathes of staff to work from home. Karl von Rohr, Deutsche's deputy, told Reuters that the bank has transferred 41,000 assets over recent weeks and adapted hundreds of documents, an effort that involved more than 600 employees.

Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> is weighing the sale of its German online bank Norisbank, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. Deutsche Bank is in the midst of an overhaul that includes streamlining operations, exiting some business lines and shedding 18,000 staff. Deutsche Bank acquired it in 2006 for 420 million euros(371.65 million pounds) from DZ Bank.

Deutsche Bank's <DBKGn.DE> regulators in the United States have criticised the German lender in an internal audit for weaknesses in fighting money laundering and in risk management, according to a German newspaper on Wednesday. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the bank has 90 days to respond to the audit, which was sent to Deutsche management at the end of March. Deutsche Bank declined to comment and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

While Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> employees fret about their jobs and pay, Germany's largest lender is trying to track down several hundred former staff to claim share payouts it has been holding in Jersey. The assets, which are in the form of stock as well as accrued dividends, have been held for years by the outpost, which was the central depository for awards for Deutsche Bank employees globally, excluding those in Germany and the United States. Jersey court documents show that over the past year Deutsche Bank has used resources including LinkedIn, 192.com, Google, and the investigative group Kroll to hunt down the ex-staffers.

German lender Deutsche Bank plans to pump at least 200 billion euros ($216.8 billion) into so-called sustainable financing and investments by 2025, its first formal targets for doing so. The money will include loans provided by the bank, bonds placed on behalf of its clients and assets managed by its private bank. The move is the latest by a leading global lender to showcase commitment to sustainable investing, as pressure builds on banks to support the globally agreed transition to a low-carbon and more environmentally friendly economy.

Deutsche Bank's <DBKGn.DE> top managers will waive one month of fixed pay in an effort to cut costs as Germany's largest lender deals with the fall-out of the coronavirus crisis. Members of the management board as well as the bank's group management committee will be affected by the move, chief executive Christian Sewing will tell shareholders at next week's annual general meeting, according to a text of the speech published on Tuesday. "In this phase of upheaval we have to make our bank even more weatherproof - or, to be more precise, stormproof," Sewing said.